A review by lakecake
Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet

4.0

I found this to be a really great look at what it's like to be a minority, first-generation college student, something super important to me in my work. It helped pull me in right away that the protagonist went to college the same time as I did, and the emotional inter-weaving of the Ariel Hernandez (a fictionalized version of Elian Gonzalez) story really helped to propel everything forward. I felt, though, this sense of sort of unsettled dread the entire time I was reading it...like the next thing that happened to Lizet was going to be THE thing that pushed her either one way or the other. Much like life, that big ending never really happened, and the simple statement that makes is even more compelling than some large bombastic event could ever be. Things happen--huge things to those involved--and life goes on.